1. Field
The invention is in the field of cooling and insulating devices for containers such as beverage cans.
2. State of the Art
There are many devices available for use in keeping canned beverages cool. Most of these take the form of an insulated cover that fits about the outside of a cooled can of beverage to reduce the heat transfer from the air to the can and beverage therein, thereby reducing the warming of the beverage. The most common of these are substantially rigid foam or styrofoam plastic cup-like containers into which a cooled can of beverage is placed or a flexible foam rubber material in the form of a sleeve that is placed around the can to similarly reduce the heat transfer to the can. Neither of these devices offers any cooling for the can or beverage therein. They merely serve to insulate around the can to keep it cool longer than would be the case without the insulation.
There has also been available a styrofoam cup-like insulating holder having a double wall to create a reservoir therein about the inner circumference thereof and with a coolant material which freezes so that the holder may be placed in a freezer to freeze the coolant material in the reservoir. When frozen, a beverage can may be placed in the receiving cup-like holder so it is surrounded by the frozen material. This not only insulates the beverage can but also cools it. However, the holder is sized to fit a certain size can. Smaller cans do not fit tightly in the holder against the reservoir so cooling efficiency is reduced, and larger cans cannot be used with the reservoir because they do not fit into the receiving opening in the holder. With the present variety of sizes of beverage cans, this is a problem.